Out of nowhere it seems has come this application called ExitReality from an Australian-based software company.

In short, it's a browser plugin that converts any web page you visit into a 3D environment. I have only just started to tinker with it so I don't know much about what it is capable of but at first glance it seems pretty nice.

Edit 1: I was just in The Coffeehouse and while all of the content is there it seems to be having serious trouble presenting it in a 3D context. For a better idea of what it can do take a look at some of the examples given on the web site.
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get The Coffeehouse looking nice in this thing.

With the exception of Director Shockwave you never want to see the terms "web" and "3D" together in the same sentance. It invariably means either a glorified tabbed browser or Adobe Atmosphere rip (which is what this seems to be).

With the exception of Director Shockwave you never want to see the terms "web" and "3D" together in the same sentance. It invariably means either a glorified tabbed browser or Adobe Atmosphere rip (which is what this seems to be).

Yeah, I've used it a bit more and it appears to be a painful way of browsing the Internet.

At the moment the two main problems are that it is far too slow (loading a new page takes at least a minute) and it only displays the pages correctly if they have been set up to work with the 3D.

I was looking at the video and it immediately confirmed what I had imagined: walking a 3D avatar through a 'museum' with Flickr pictures.

I never understood why companies figure that I want that. I didn't understand it with the whole Second Life Shopping thing either. "This is the future: you'll do your online shopping by
walking through a 3D isle and grabbing the stuff you want, and walking to the 3D cash register." Why on earth would I want to mimic real stores when I can just go to a web page and instantly bring up exactly what I am looking for, and buy it within
five seconds?

Similarly, why would I want to walk a virtual avatar through a virtual museum past one picture by one to look at a guy's photo album, when I can just go to Flickr and see the pictures straight in front of me and click 'next'?

I was looking at the video and it immediately confirmed what I had imagined: walking a 3D avatar through a 'museum' with Flickr pictures.

I never understood why companies figure that I want that. I didn't understand it with the whole Second Life Shopping thing either. "This is the future: you'll do your online shopping by
walking through a 3D isle and grabbing the stuff you want, and walking to the 3D cash register." Why on earth would I want to mimic real stores when I can just go to a web page and instantly bring up exactly what I am looking for, and buy it within
five seconds?

Similarly, why would I want to walk a virtual avatar through a virtual museum past one picture by one to look at a guy's photo album, when I can just go to Flickr and see the pictures straight in front of me and click 'next'?

I always had this little theory that things like this are just a cover for an embezzling operation.

Step 1: Nefarious software developer comes up with flashy, yet totally useless concept (thus, almost zero running costs)
Step 2: Developer scores venture capital investment from clueless investors who like what they see, but don't really think too much about it
Step 3.1: Developer embezzles the money into a side account or buying up lots of "necessary" hardware
Step 3.2: Developer spends a pittance of time actually developing the concept into real software
Step 3.3: Project fails and the investors get out, but leaving behind the company's existing assets
Step 3.4: Profit!

I was looking at the video and it immediately confirmed what I had imagined: walking a 3D avatar through a 'museum' with Flickr pictures.

I never understood why companies figure that I want that. I didn't understand it with the whole Second Life Shopping thing either. "This is the future: you'll do your online shopping by
walking through a 3D isle and grabbing the stuff you want, and walking to the 3D cash register." Why on earth would I want to mimic real stores when I can just go to a web page and instantly bring up exactly what I am looking for, and buy it within
five seconds?

Similarly, why would I want to walk a virtual avatar through a virtual museum past one picture by one to look at a guy's photo album, when I can just go to Flickr and see the pictures straight in front of me and click 'next'?

There are lots of great uses for 3D. This definitely isn't one of them. Yuck!

Has there been much effective use of WPFs "3D-centricity" or is it really just a bunch of apps using D3D to make them run faster... and an excuse to write pixelshaders?

I don't see how 3D can improve web browsing. Maybe on IM contact list is fine. The list is too long for 2D approach. The PhotoSync in 3D is cool. I am sure there are many good use of 3D, but not everything.